Faculty of the Built Environment

In 2002, the Faculty of the Built Environment was awarded two grants from the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education). The purpose of the grants was to support individuals and teams of academics to provide motivating, challenging and exciting experiences for their first year students. The successful grant applicant for the Faculty was Ann Quinlan in association with the Building Construction Management, Industrial Design, Interior Architecture and Landscape Architecture programs heads for the Science Square Installation Project. In summarising the project for the FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE FORUM: Social, practical, student centred learning is a vital feature of the education of Built Environment professionals at UNSW. This experiential approach to learning framed a Faculty based First Year student project undertaken in Session One by 350 students from five programs working in 44 program specific teams. It builds on the potential of a Faculty re-organisation designed to enhance synergy between students, staff, programs and disciplinary knowledge in the fields of the built environment. Across the five programs a curriculum framework was developed within existing courses to accommodate discrete disciplinary learning through a shared project context, leading to the student design and construction of an installation in Science Square. Preliminary evaluation suggests the success of this first year project in firstly, making disciplinary learning meaningful and relevant, secondly, challenging students, enhancing and valuing their risk taking, creativity, and innovation, thirdly, encouraging social and cultural interaction between students, team building and collective learning, leadership and independence as processes and practices of value to academic scholarship and community. Finally, it affirms the willingness of staff to share differing conceptual perspectives and ways of working in five disciplinary fields of the built environment.